The Relationship between Sources of Moral Authority, Political Attitude and Authoritarianism

Abstract

Individuals with different political attitudes attribute their political tendencies to different sources of moral authority. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between moral authority sources, political attitude and authoritarianism. A total of 128 subjects from two universities participated in this study by completing the Moral Authority Test-Revised (MAS-R) and the Authoritarianism Scale. Respondents were also asked regarding their political tendencies. Findings showed no significant difference of political attitudes in attribution to different sources of moral authority and authoritarianism. There was however a significant relation of authoritarianism with external source of moral authority, but not with principle and self interest sources. This implies that authoritarians relied on external source of authority figures in moral judgment rather than one's own interest or principle issues. The findings were discussed in terms of the characteristics of the sample and sociopolitical sphere of Iran.

Relationship between dimensions of religiosity, authoritarianism, and moral authority

“…Five criminology and sociology experts confirmed the face validity of the scale and internal reliability of .83 was also obtained (Heydari et al, 2012). In addition, the scale was shown to have significant relationships with external source of moral reasoning (Teymoori et al, 2012), perceived parental control (Heydari et al, 2013), ethnocentrism (Heydari et al, in press), and anomie and socioeconomic status (Heydari et al, 2012), which is consistent with the literature and confirms the content validity of the scale.…”

Socioeconomic status, perceived parental control, and authoritarianism: Development of authoritarianism in Iranian society

“…() reported a reliability coefficient of 0.83 and obtained face validity for the scale by obtaining confirmation from five criminology and sociology experts. In addition, the scale was shown to have significant relationship with anomie and socioeconomic status (Heydari et al ., ), external source of moral reasoning (Teymoori, Shahrazad & Heydari, ), positive attitude toward ethnic jokes, positive association with in‐group and out‐group ethnocentrism, and negative association with dimensions of ethno‐cultural empathy (Haghish et al ., 2012) all of which are consistent with the literature of authoritarianism and confirm the content validity of the scale. The internal consistency of the scale in the current study is 0.78.…”